The present invention relates generally to valves used with medical gas cylinders, and more particularly, to a valve used to add additional connection port or ports to an existing gas cylinder valve without altering the gas cylinder valve and without altering or removing the existing regulator or gas delivery hardware.
Medical gas cylinder valves have three ports when manufactured according to an industry standard, for example, Compressed Gas Association (CGA) 870). One port is screwed into the gas cylinder, a second port is where the regulator or gas delivery is attached, and the third port contains a pressure relief safety burst disc. As depicted in FIG. 1, a typical configuration for a medical gas cylinder is depicted. The medical gas cylinder 10 has a single fill port through a conventional valve 12. The conventional valve 12 usually has NPT threads on the outlet end. As depicted in FIG. 1, a CGA-870 valve is illustrated as 30. The CGA-870 valve has a body 32 having a first port 34 having NPT threads, a pressure reducer 36 attached to a second port 35 and a burst disc 38 in a third port 37.
Often, the number of ports on a medical gas valve such as the CGA-870 is insufficient. Thus, a need exists in the art for an apparatus used to add at least one port to the CGA-870 gas valve without altering the regulator or gas delivery hardware.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for attachment to a standard medical gas cylinder that provides an additional connection port.
Another object of the present invention is to add an additional connection port or ports to an existing gas cylinder valve.
Yet another object of the present invention is to add additional connection port or ports to an existing gas cylinder valve and without altering or removing the existing regulator or gas delivery hardware.
The present invention allows an additional connection to a standard medical gas cylinder valve such as a CGA-870 valve. An additional connection may be used for filling a cylinder without removing the pressure reducer, simultaneous filling while drawing through the pressure reducer, or for any other purpose that requires an additional or non-standard connection to the cylinder. The additional connection will be through an adapter that screws into the burst disc port. A burst disc is a frangible disc which ruptures within a predetermined pressure range. Some gas cylinder valves have the burst disc center line closer to the outlet centerline. This close centerline may be accommodated by offsetting the access of the first and second port to provide clearances required.
These and other objects of the present invention are achieved by a fill port adapter for connection to a medical gas cylinder having two or more ports. The fill port adapter includes a body having a first connector portion for pressure tight connection into one of the two or more ports of the medical gas cylinder. The fill port adapter has a burst disc portion including a burst disc. The fill port adapter has a second connector portion having connection means to either fill the gas cylinder from a source of gas pressure through a second connector portion or to withdraw gas from the gas cylinder through the second connector portion.
The foregoing and other objects of the present invention can be achieved by a method of adding an additional port to an existing medical gas cylinder having two or more ports. The method includes disconnecting hardware from one of the two or more ports and connecting an adapter including a first connector portion for pressure tight connection into one of the two or more ports of the medical gas cylinder. The adapter also includes a burst disc portion including a burst disc, and a second connector portion having connection means to either fill the gas cylinder from a source of gas pressure through the second connector portion or to withdraw gas from the gas cylinder through the second connector portion.
The foregoing and other objects of the present invention can be achieved by a fill port adapter for connection to a medical gas cylinder having two or more ports. The fill port adapter includes a body including a first connector portion for pressure tight connection into one of the two or more ports of the medical gas cylinder. The fill port adapter has a burst disc portion including a burst disc, wherein the port into which the first connector portion is connected is a burst disc port. The fill port adapter has a second connector portion having connection means to either fill the gas cylinder from a source of gas pressure through the second connection portion or to withdraw gas from the gas cylinder through the second connector portion.
Still other objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein the preferred embodiments of the invention are shown and described, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated of carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description thereof are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.